Spectral properties and composition of potentially hazardous Asteroid (99942) Apophis

The known close approach of Asteroid (99942) Apophis in April 2029 provides the opportunity for the case study of a potentially hazardous asteroid in advance of its encounter. The visible to near-infrared (0.55 to 2.45 μm) reflectance spectrum of Apophis is compared and modeled with respect to the spectral and mineralogical characteristics of likely meteorite analogs. Apophis is found to be an Sq-class asteroid that most closely resembles LL ordinary chondrite meteorites in terms of spectral characteristics and interpreted olivine and pyroxene abundances, although we cannot rule out some degree of partial melting. A meteorite analog allows some estimates and conjectures of Apophis' possible range of physical properties such as the grain density and micro-porosity of its constituent material. Composition and size similarities of Apophis with (25143) Itokawa suggest a total porosity of 40% as a “current best guess” for Apophis. Applying these parameters to Apophis yields a mass estimate of 2×¹⁰¹⁰ kg with a corresponding energy estimate of 375 Mt for its potential hazard. Substantial unknowns, most notably the total porosity, allow uncertainties in these mass and energy estimates to be as large as factors of two or three.     

A comparison of local simulations and reduced models of MRI-induced turbulence

We run mean-field shearing-box numerical simulations with a temperature-dependent resistivity and compare them to a reduced dynamical model. Our simulations reveal the co-existence of two quasi-steady states, a 'quiet' state and an 'active' turbulent state, confirming the predictions of the reduced model. The initial conditions determine on which state the simulation ultimately settles. The active state is strongly influenced by the geometry of the computational box and the thermal properties of the gas. Cubic domains support permanent channel flows, bar-shaped domains exhibit eruptive behaviour, and horizontal slabs give rise to infrequent channels. Meanwhile, longer cooling time-scales lead to higher saturation amplitudes.     

Water sorption on martian regolith analogs: Thermodynamics and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy

The near-infrared reflectance spectra of the martian surface present strong absorption features attributed to hydration water present in the regolith. In order to characterize the relationships between this water and atmospheric vapor and decipher the physical state of water molecules in martian regolith analogs, we designed and built an experimental setup to measure near-IR reflectance spectra under martian atmospheric conditions. Six samples were studied that cover part of the diversity of Mars surface mineralogy: a hydrated ferric oxide (ferrihydrite), two igneous samples (volcanic tuff, and dunite sand), and three potential water rich soil materials (Mg-sulfate, smectite powder and a palagonitic soil, the JSC Mars-1 regolith stimulant). Sorption and desorption isotherms were measured at 243 K for water vapor pressure varying from 10⁻⁵ to ∼0.3 mbar (relative humidity: 10⁻⁴ to 75%). These measurements reveal a large diversity of behavior among the sample suite in terms of absolute amount of water adsorbed, shape of the isotherm and hysteresis between the adsorption and desorption branches. Simultaneous in situ spectroscopic observations permit a detailed analysis of the spectral signature of adsorbed water and also point to clear differences between the samples. Ferric (oxy)hydroxides like ferrihydrite or other phases present in palagonitic soils are very strong water adsorbent and may play an important role in the current martian water cycle by allowing large exchange of water between dust-covered regions and atmosphere at diurnal and seasonal scales.     

The South America VLF NETwork (SAVNET)

In this paper we present the South America VLF NETwork (SAVNET), a new observing facility at very low frequencies. It has been recently installed at different locations spread over Latin America, in Brazil, Peru and Argentina. It consists of a network of seven Very Low Frequency (VLF) receivers with the main scientific objective of monitoring the solar activity on short (minutes to hours) and long (years) time scales. Other objectives include a better understanding of the spatial structure of the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly, the study of atmospheric phenomena and the search for genuine seismic-electromagnetic effects. After discussing the scientific goals, the details of the installation are presented as well as the first results recently obtained.     

Conflicting structural and geochronological data from the Ibituruna quartz-syenite (SE Brazil): Effect of protracted “hot” orogeny and slow cooling rate?

The Ibituruna quartz-syenite was emplaced as a sill in the Ribeira-Araçuaí Neoproterozoic belt (Southeastern Brazil) during the last stages of the Gondwana supercontinent amalgamation. We have measured the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) in samples from the Ibituruna sill to unravel its magnetic fabric that is regarded as a proxy for its magmatic fabric. A large magnetic anisotropy, dominantly due to magnetite, and a consistent magnetic fabric have been determined over the entire Ibituruna massif. The magmatic foliation and lineation are strikingly parallel to the solid-state mylonitic foliation and lineation measured in the country-rock. Altogether, these observations suggest that the Ibituruna sill was emplaced during the high temperature (~ 750 °C) regional deformation and was deformed before full solidification coherently with its country-rock. Unexpectedly, geochronological data suggest a rather different conclusion. LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP ages of zircons from the Ibituruna quartz-syenite are in the range 530–535 Ma and LA-ICP-MS ages of zircons and monazites from synkinematic leucocratic veins in the country-rocks suggest a crystallization at ~ 570–580 Ma, i.e., an HT deformation > 35My older than the emplacement of the Ibituruna quartz-syenite. Conclusions from the structural and the geochronological studies are therefore conflicting. A possible explanation arises from ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar thermochronology. We have dated amphiboles from the quartz-syenite, and amphiboles and biotites from the country-rock. Together with the ages of monazites and zircons in the country-rock, ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar mineral ages suggest a very low cooling rate: < 3 °C/My between 570 and ~ 500 Ma and ~ 5 °C/My between 500 and 460 Ma. Assuming a protracted regional deformation consistent over tens of My, under such stable thermal conditions the fabric and microstructure of deformed rocks may remain almost unchanged even if they underwent and recorded strain pulses separated by long periods of time. This may be a characteristic of slow cooling “hot orogens” that rocks deformed at significantly different periods during the orogeny, but under roughly unchanged temperature conditions, may display almost indiscernible microstructure and fabric.     

Evidence for a warmer period during the 12th and 13th centuries AD from chironomid assemblages in Southampton Island, Nunavut, Canada

This study presents the Late-Holocene evolution of a northern Southampton Island (Nunavut, Canada) lake, using fossil chironomids supported by sedimentological evidences (XRF, grain size and CNS). All proxies revealed a relatively stable environment during the last millennium with short-lived events driving changes in the entire lake ecosystem. The chironomid-based paleotemperatures revealed variations of significant amplitude coincident with changes in the sediment density and chemical composition of the core. Higher temperature intervals were generally correlated to lower sediment density with higher chironomid concentration and diversity. Higher temperatures were recorded from cal yr AD 1160 to AD 1360, which may correspond to the Medieval Warm Period. Between cal yr AD 1360 and AD 1700, lower temperatures were probably related to a Little Ice Age event. This study presents new information on the timing of known climatic events which will refine our knowledge of the paleoclimate and climatic models of the Foxe Basin region. It also provides a new framework for the evolution of such freshwater ecosystems under the “Anthropocene” and underlines the importance of including sedimentological proxies when interpreting chironomid remains as this combined approach provides an extended overview of the past hydrological and geochemical changes and their impacts on lake biota.     

Decoupling between the middle and upper crust during transpression-related lateral flow: Variscan evolution of the Aston gneiss dome (Pyrenees, France)

We present a structural, AMS, microstructural and kinematic study of the Aston gneiss dome (French Pyrenees), which consists of a core made up of orthogneiss and paragneiss intruded by numerous sills of Carboniferous peraluminous granite. The orthogneiss corresponds to a former Ordovician granitic laccolith. Four Variscan events have been evidenced in this gneiss dome: (i) D1 deformation observed only as relics in the orthogneisses and their country-rocks located above the sillimanite isograd, and characterized by a NS to NE–SW non coaxial stretch associated to top to the south motions (NS convergence); (ii) D2-a deformation observed in the orthogneisses and their country-rocks, mainly migmatitic paragneisses, located below the sillimanite isograd and in the peraluminous granites whatever their structural level, and characterized by an EW to N120°E stretch associated to a top to the east flat shearing (lateral flow in the hot middle crust in a transpressive regime); (iii) D2-b deformation characterized by EW-trending megafolds corresponding to the domes in the middle crust and by EW-trending tight folds with subvertical axial planes in the metasedimentary upper crust; (iv) subvertical medium-temperature mylonitic bands developed by the end of the transpression.The Aston massif is a good example of decoupling between a cold upper crust and a hotter middle crust overheated by a thermal event originated in the upper mantle. This decoupling allowed the lateral flow of the migmatitic middle crust along a direction at high angle with respect to the more or less NS-trending direction of convergence. We suggest that the HT-LP metamorphism developed before the formation of the domes during D2-a, coevally with the emplacement of numerous sills of peraluminous granite, whereas the emplacement of the large calc-alkaline plutons in the upper crust occurred by the end of D2-b. Our data invalidate the previous geodynamical models based on either early or late extensional regime to explain the development of the HT-LP metamorphism. This new interpretation of the dynamics of the Variscan crust of the Pyrenees is consistent with recent studies conducted in Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic hot continental crusts having undergone oblique convergence, and characterized by a competition between vertical thickening and lateral flow induced by the important rheological contrast between two thermally different levels.     

Identification of a sulfide derivative with a bicyclic hydrocarbon skeleton related to squalene. Part II: synthesis of a S-spiro-like dithiolane triterpenoid

A sulfide with a bicyclic squalene hydrocarbon skeleton present in sediments from various depositional settings and of different geological age has been identified by synthesis of a reference compound. In contrast to previous expectations [cf. Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., de Leeuw, J.W., 1995. A novel triterpenoid carbon skeleton in immature sulphur-rich sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59, 953–958; Gug, S., Schaeffer, P., Adam, P., Klein, S., Motsch, E., Albrecht, P., 2009. Identification of a sulfide derivative with a bicyclic hydrocarbon skeleton related to squalene. Part I: Synthesis of a dithiane triterpenoid. Organic Geochemistry 40, 876–884.], this sulfide bears two “S-spiro type“ thiolane moities, but not the two thiochromane moieties originally envisaged. The synthesis resulted in the formation of a complex isomeric mixture of compounds, all co-eluting in gas chromatography (GC) in the form of one broad peak, as is the case with the geochemical compound. The spiro-type sulfide was formed by intramolecular sulfurization of a polyunsaturated bicyclic squalene derivative of unknown biological origin. The presence of this sulfide in a number of Triassic to Miocene marine sediments from various and contrasting depositional settings (upwelling environments, shallow continental platforms, lagoonal sub-basins, hypersaline environments), all characterized by strongly anoxic conditions, but with or without photic zone anoxia, indicates that the microorganisms biosynthesizing the precursor bicyclic squalene occupy diverse ecological niches.     

Rapid and cyclic aeolian deposition during the Last Glacial in European loess: a high-resolution record from Nussloch, Germany

This paper reports the results of an investigation of the Weichselian Upper Pleniglacial loess sequences of Nussloch (Rhine Valley, Germany) based on stratigraphy, palaeopedology, sedimentology, palynology, malacology and geochemistry (δ¹³C), supported by radiocarbon, TL and OSL dating. Grain-size and magnetic susceptibility records are taken at 5 cm intervals from the Upper Pleniglacial (UPG) loess. The data indicate cyclic variations in loess deposition between ca 34 and 17 ka, when the sedimentation rate is especially high (1.0–1.2 m per ka for more than 10 m). The grain-size index (GSI: ratio of coarse silt versus fine silt and clay) shows variations, which are assumed to be an indirect measurement of wind intensity. The sedimentation rate, interpreted from the profiles, indicates high values in loess (Loess events LE-1 to LE-7) and low or negligible values in tundra gley horizons G1 to G8. OSL ages from the loess and ¹⁴C dates from organic matter in the loess show that loess deposition was rapid but was interrupted by shorter periods of reduced aeolian sedimentation. Comparison between the data from Nussloch and other European sequences demonstrates a progressive coarsening of the loess deposits between ca 30 and 22 ka. This coarsening trend ends with a short but major grain-size decrease and is followed by an increase to a new maximum at 20 ± 2 ka (“W” shape). Correlation between the loess GSI and the Greenland ice-core dust records, suggests a global connection between North Atlantic and Western European global atmospheric circulation and wind regimes. In addition, the typical Upper Pleniglacial loess deposition begins at ca 30–31 ka, close to Heinrich event (HE) 3, and the main period of loess sedimentation at about 25 ± 2 ka is coeval to HE 2. Correlation of magnetic susceptibility and grain-size records shows that the periods, characterised by high GSI, coincide with an increase in the amount of ferromagnetic minerals reworked from the Rhine alluvial plain. They suggest enhancement in the frequency of the storms from N–NW. These results are integrated within a palaeogeographical model of dust transport and deposition in Western Europe for the Weichselian Upper Pleniglacial (or Late Pleniglacial).     

Chondritic micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains

Abstract– On the basis of morphological and petrographic characteristics, eight “giant” unmelted micrometeorites in the 300–1100 μm size range were selected from the Transantarctic Mountain micrometeorite collection, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Mineralogical and geochemical data obtained by means of scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalyses, and synchrotron X‐ray diffraction allow their classification as chondritic micrometeorites. The large size of the micrometeorites increases considerably the amount of mineralogical and geochemical information compared to micrometeorites in smaller size fractions, therefore allowing a better definition of their parent material. A large variety of material is observed: five micrometeorites are related to unequilibrated and equilibrated ordinary chondrite, one to CV chondrite, one to CM chondrite, and one to CI chondrite parent materials. Besides reporting the first occurrence of a CV‐like micrometeorite, our study shows that the abundance of chondritic material supports observations from recent studies on cosmic spherules that a large part of the micrometeorite flux in this size range is of asteroidal origin.